Making our Meadow Blog

Is this the end?

After
due consideration I have decided not to go ahead with the aquaponics project,
the financial outlay for the set up costs are not justified by the return in
terms of the fish produced. Apparently 40-50 fish per year in a well run system
in Australia seems normal –
I think in the chilly UK
you would have to expect less. I am interested in the idea of vermiponics
however, so I will look into that as an alternative.
 
The
home made biogas digester seems to be pretty dead at the moment – like so
many renewable energy options it seems to be least successful in the harsh
winter months when you need it most. But it is early days yet, so I will keep
investigating it.   
 
Pondcam
seems to have died a death, I have evicted the PC into the shed and removed the
camera.
 
Meadowcam
One seems to be in a very strange way. After my initial optimism upon
discovering that the power wire had worn through, I have managed to get it
going again only to discover that the timer and the light detecting potentiometer
both seem to be faulty. The timer will now only set the interval to 1 minute on
any of the programmable times (15 options were available before) and the
potentiometer now only turns the circuit on when a bright lamp is placed directly
over the light detector, whereas previously it would start at dawn and turn off
at dusk. Perhaps the PIC needs replacing, or reprogramming, perhaps the light
sensing diode needs replacing, perhaps the potentiometer is faulty or needs remaking.

 
Meadowcam
Two is grinding along at the same snails pace as before. I have several large
boxes of components awaiting enough time and energy to assemble them into
something I can test. The likelihood of having it up and running by early
spring seems low.
 
It
all feels rather depressing, maybe that is just winter getting me down. It
never used to though, I used to look forward to winter when there were more hours
available for birdwatching because the garden was asleep, and birds were more
easily seen in the brief hours of daylight. This started me thinking last
night, how much time have I wasted on these little projects, and what is the
benefit of them? Who looked at Pondcam, and did they see anything useful? I
doubt many people did, and I doubt they ever saw anything of value. I doubt that
Meadowcam One will be seen at Cannes,
and I doubt Meadowcam Two will make it very far. All this time I have spent is
precious, time I could have spent with my family, working harder developing my
business, enjoying the natural world in a more direct way without the encumbrances
of photographic technology. Photography can be a cruel hobby, the rewards can
be few and far between, and it can seem to suck the life and pleasure out of
you. I’m starting to feel that all the photographic projects I have
undertaken, with the exception of plant photographs and a few others have been
failures. But where do I go from here. I need to find several hundred pounds to
fund repairs to my beloved Leica binoculars. Should I sell most of my kit and
turn my back on this foray into wildlife photography? It makes me laugh now to
think that I briefly (irrationally) thought of giving it all up to pursue this
as a career. It makes me rather embarrassed to face up to this initial pride I had.
I have only produced a couple of pictures which are worthwhile. But like a lot
of people I fell into the trap of thinking that I could improve my pictures by
purchasing more and more specialist equipment. I think this is a common pitfall
with wildlife photography of all descriptions, and a whole industry has built
up to support this addiction. It also makes me feel rather ashamed to think
that this vanity and hubris on my part is helping, to some tiny degree, to
drive conflicts in the Congo
and the ravaging of nature across the world. How can they be squared?
 
It’s
probably me just having too much time to think. But there is a time for
thinking and reflecting and perhaps I should have a look at all these projects
and decide what is and is not worthwhile.

Meadowcam problem solved?

I connected the battery to the charger when I got home to keep it topped up connected it to the camera and tried to figure out what was going on with it. In the move I'd managed to lose the length of bamboo needed to keep the camera switched on. I made a new one and hey presto it worked again! But when I tried again later I couldn't repeat it. After leaving it running again with no joy today I took it apart and found the earth wire for the power cable from the circuit board to the camera was severed. I'm not sure when this happened, I suppose that it had loosened during the previous image downloads. I'll strip the wire and resolder it tonight. Hopefully that will fix it.

Weekend of unfortunate setbacks

On Friday I received the parts I had ordered from Motionco for the transmission part of Meadowcam 2, only to discover that one of the parts I had ordered (the coupling allowing the motor drive shaft to connect to the larger diameter shaft for the pulley) was the wrong size. I have contacted them and I am sure they will be able to sort out a replacement but it is still a set back.

On Saturday I discovedered that the Pondcam PC had effectively died (again) so I pulled it all out, put it in the shed and took the opportunity to clean out the pond, so I donned my waders, jumped in and pulled out about 1 cubinc meter of crap. I left this on the side to allow the beasties to climb back in and then mixed it with shredded hay from my meadow before putting it in the barrel compost tumbler, to give it another try...

On Sunday I went to check on Meadowcam 1 at Bury Field, and found that it had not been running since the end of September. I tried to get it going again, and while I could turn it on (i.e. the battery is not the issue) it would not power up with the timer. I have brought it back home to fix it, but it means that the year of foootage I wanted  now has an enormous gap - I have about 6months of continuous footage I can use and will study this before making any decisions. It is probably for the best but still fairly gutting.

Finally in the generally negative vibe that is going round, I am having serious doubts about the viability of the aquaponics project. I might do it on a very small scale in a barrel with some goldfish but there seem to be so many challenges and potentially so many expenses that launching in with a 1000 litre tank seems unlikely to proceed.

On the positive front I have identified an excellent potential worm box and a great source of worms so vermiponics might be a good way to start, and the anaerobic digester seems to be proceeding without problems...so far!

First hard frost

The first hard frost of the year brought home the challenges I will face on creating an outdoor aquaponics system. Keeping the fish warm enough is the first challenge. Ensuring the pump, pipes etc are not damaged by frost and ice formation may be another...

Fish, worms...bacteria?

I have spent the last couple of weeks researching the viability of aquaponics as a system for combining fish production and hydroponic vegetable production in the back garden. This may sound like it is a bit mad, but it is merely the most modern incarnation of an ancient lineage stretching back to ancient Chinese farming practices. The current form is about 30 years old and has a well established presence. It is particularly strong in Australia, and is not very well developed in the UK. I think this might reflect some differences in outlook and attitude between our countries, but as I have looked into it, the issue if climate may also be a factor. Simply put, it seems to me that fluctuations in temperature are a major issue so farming cold water fish under cover becomes a problem in summer and farming anything in a tank in winter may be a problem. I am still thinking of setting it up, just out of curiosity, but I am not too hopeful of the results. At the moment my initial dream of homegrown trout is looking very unlikely and my ideas of feeding scraps to carp is also looking less straight forward. Space is another issue - I only just have enough room for the IBC I have already got. I think my wife would balk at several of them.

As well as fish production the other reason for using aquaponics is to improve vegetable crops. In fact many people are really more interested in using the fish to provide nutrients. Everyone comes with their own set of objectives and goals and there is a spectrum if those seeking to improve their crops with little interest in fish, to those who simply view the crop as a biofilter for the fish, as well as others who are willing to look at many other combinations including rabbits and worms. The latter (vermiponics) seems the most promising route for me longer term at the moment so I will also look into developing this as a growing system.

While pondering these and other issues it occurred to me that there may be another way of looking at this, from the point of view of a vegetable gardener rather than fish keeper. We are using the fish as a source of nitrates for growing a crop. These are produced by nitrifying bacteria from nitrites, which are ultimately derived from ammonia in the fish waste. Are there other sources of ammonia which could be used? Using fish to create nitrates via bacteria from ocean derived fish feed pellets seems incorrect to me, but it seems that feeding them via other means is difficult and still under research. I looked into ways of creating ammonia in the backyard and came up with anaerobic digesters, which make it as a byproduct along side CO2 and methane. Obviously this is potentially both very exciting and dangerous. But feeding scraps of everything and anything into a digester, and producing methane to heat a greenhouse, plus a nutrient rich fertiliser to grow the crops and elevated CO2 levels to promote growth sounds like an amazing concept, although I could not find very much to back it up.

So now I have two, possibly three systems I know nothing about requiring investigation...

Orchid attempt number three

The orchids I bought from Laneside Orchids and planted in the meadow are flourishing. The Bee Orchid has grown and both the pyramidal orchids have sprouted. I have placed a wire cage over them to prevent them rotting from leaves etc. More images in http://meadowmaker.typepad.co.uk/photos/orchids/

Meadowcam Transmission Sorted, possibly...

It's been a bit quiet on the moving time lapse camera front I have been
preoccupied with other things (like setting up my own mini fish farm...) and
waiting for a company called Motionco to get back to me on a few points.
They have been excellent, really helpful I would thoroughly recommend them.
They have agreed that the design I have suggested should work and will be
fine outdoors so I am going to go ahead and get the timer belt and pulleys.
It is not that expensive and it will give much better control.

I am going to place an order later today hopefully.

So that will be the transmission sorted. Now onto the hundred and one other
things...

IBC Aquaponics thoughts

I attacked my IBC this afternoon to see what I could do with it. The bung on the front tap can be removed to reveal a 50mm diameter threaded hole to which a wide range of adapters can be fitted. The straps on the top can be removed and the plastic tank slides easily out of the cage, allowing it to be cut. I haven't tried removing the bottom part of the pallet, but it is just bolted on so should be removable.

 
The distance from the bottom of the pallet to the top of the third bar up is 670mm which might fit through the greenhouse door,  and if i took off the pallet (and reassembled it inside) it would definately fit, at less than 600mm. The volume at this height is just under 600 litres. Presumably I could use the top part as a grow bed. Possibly this could be used in the system suggested by John Stivers here.

I couldn't find any feedback on the Aquaponics HQ forum, not sure if that is good or bad... 

IBC for Aquaponics...or is it?

My intermediate bulk container turned up yesterday. Attached are some
pictures. It's looking good. I am wondering where to start with it. Space is
a real issue - gardens are NEVER big enough!

My concerns are the restriction in terms of getting it into my garden (gate
width is 730mm, although I'm sure with some help we could get it over the
neighbour's fence), into the greenhouse (door width = 600mm), and bed space
(although I have quite a lot of room at 1m x 1.2m the foot print is still
quite large and my garden is pretty packed as it is.

Do I want to cut the thing in half just to fit it in my greenhouse? Do I
want it in my greenhouse at all? It would ruin a good tank, but then it
might make two smaller, more manageable tanks.

Another think I need to consider is the balance of fish tank volume to grow
bed volume. I've been scouring the forums again, and I'm realising just how
much there is to this. Very complicated subject indeed...

IBC is here

My lovely new (recycled) IBC was delivered today. I have put
it in amongst the stock to hide it away while I get down to planning. I’ll
put a photo of it up tomorrow, hopefully.
 
Phil made a very good point about making it climbing toddler
proof. I will clad the sides to make sure Max can’t climb up those
convenient steel bars. While I was thinking about this

I am new to this forum but have been on
BYAP forum for a few months.
I have just prepared an IBC to use as a sump tank.
I dug half of it into the ground to get good fall from the grow beds and then I
put some wooden strips around the outside of the cage, wrapped it in foil
insulation and then clad it in old weatherboards.
I will be doing this with the grow beds and fish tanks too.
I believe it is important top keep sunlight off the liner as it will
disintegrate thru UV light and algae will grow on it where the sun shines. Plus
fish like the darkness.
I will try to show a photo but not sure how to do that yet.
 

 
I like the idea of insulating the tank against the cold (and
heat!), and it also improves the appearance of the tank while making it
climb-proof. I will certainly consider this as an option.
 
This was picked up on one of the forums relating to
Aquaponics (called AP by the cognoscenti). It seems these are based mainly in
Oz, where they are seemingly much more committed to permaculture than in the UK. Possibly
lack of water, more sunshine, possibly historical reasons, or maybe just a lot
more room! No one there seems to be trying what I am in a small English
suburban garden!
 
Anyway my continued exploration of the forums while I try to
find a UK
based source of information. So far I have found Gary Donaldson’s forum
very helpful. Although the idea above was culled from the seemingly competing
forum run by Murray Hallam. I am finding the friction between them quite
distracting at the moment, but there is so much information there…